Hawthorn coach Alastair Clarkson says his list still has the potential to win a premiership in the near future.
His side was kept to their lowest ever first half score after registering just three behinds to trail by 59 points at the main change.
Clarkson said the Hawks failed to show up in the early stages of the game on Thursday night, but was pleased with his side's resolve in the second half.
"We couldn't have had a worse start really," Clarkson said.
"They won clearance, they won possession from congestion and when we did get it we gave it back to them. I think they took five marks off our boot in the first five minutes of the gameโฆ
"I was really pleased with the endeavour of our players. When you haven't kicked a goal at half time we could have easily turned our toes up... we hung in there and won the last half."
The Hawks kicked seven goals to four after half-time to trim the margin back to 51 points by the final siren, with captain Jarryd Roughead leading the way in the second half.
With veterans Luke Hodge, Josh Gibson and Shaun Burgoyne all entering the twilight of their careers, Hawthorn could possibly be forgiven for looking towards a rebuild, but Clarkson doesn't see it that way.
The four-time premiership coach says success could be around the corner, as he likened their current predicament to the years preceding 2008.
"We had a really, really young group in 2005 and after we won it in 2008 we had (Trent) Croad premature retirement, (Shane) Crawford retires, (Stuart) Dew retires, Mark Williams goes to Essendon," he said.
"You almost recalibrate and bring in some younger players ... who help you with your next wave and you win premierships with that group and we're probably going to have to do exactly the same now.
"(Matt) Suckling goes through free agency, Brad Hill requests to go home through free agency, Sam (Mitchell) and (Jordan) Lewis get significant opportunities to go to other clubs. It's an opportunity for the next wave of players. What you are always trying to work out as a club is when your best opportunity is going to come to win silverware again."
